Nirvana biographer claims Kurt Cobain was “jealous” of Dave Grohl
Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad has claimed that Kurt Cobain was “jealous” of his bandmate Dave Grohl.
The author recently appeared on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast to talk about an expanded version of his 1993 book about the band, Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana.
In the original release, Cobain described a guitar part written by Grohl on ‘In Utero’ track ‘Scentless Apprentice’ as “boneheaded”.
When asked about the quote on the podcast, Azerrad responded (via Loudwire): “I thought that was a little condescending, frankly.”
Elsewhere in the Come As You Are book, Cobain is quoted as calling Grohl “the most well-adjusted boy in the whole world”. The writer claimed that the late frontman was jealous of the drummer who would go on to form Foo Fighters because of this.
“I think Kurt partly was mocking Dave for being fairly together and normal,” Azerrad explained. “[Grohl’s] a popular, well-adjusted guy – he really is.
“And I think partly Kurt was making fun of that because he wasn’t a freak, like Kurt. And he also was jealous. I think Kurt was a little bit jealous of Dave because Dave did have his act together.”
You can listen to the interview in full below.
Back in 2019, Nirvana’s former manager Danny Goldberg said Cobain was well aware of Grohl’s vocal talents, suggesting that there may have been “a touch of envy” between the two.
Grohl said in 2005 that “there were times when Kurt was really unhappy with the way I played drums”, adding: “I could hear him talking about how much he thought I sucked. But he’d never say it to me.”
The Foos frontman explained at the time that the issues arose around the ‘In Utero’ era. “That’s when I think Kurt became unhappy with what was happening in the band,” he continued.
More recently, Grohl said he doesn’t get caught up in wondering what Cobain would’ve thought of Foo Fighters’ music. “You can’t create or judge anything by someone else’s standards,” he said in an interview with NME.
Grohl has previously hailed Cobain as “the greatest songwriter of our generation”. He added: “I’m very proud to say that I got to be his drummer and play those songs every night.”
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Tom Skinner
NME
